[ashroy_6]

Originally Posted by harjeev

Lovely start to a travelogue ashroy. I had some questions about the vehicle but you seem to have already answered all of them.
Good to hear that the vehicle handled phenomenally well during the entire trip.

Very eagerly waiting for the rest of the travelogue to unfold. Fantastic narrations and and lovely pictures to go alongwith.

BTW what dates/ month did you travel on this trip?

Well we started from Hyd on 2nd May and came back on 20th May.

Originally Posted by rugsrags

What a wonderful write-up and pictures. I must say both the place and the car look amazing
AM sure the rexton must have got a lot of glances and attention at all the places especially considering the rarity of the vehicle on the roads in most of the places.
Took delivery of the Rx7 just yesterday and driven it for around a 100kms now and am loving the ride, power and extremely quiet cabin when not accelerating.
Am sure happy to know that no rattles cropped up even after such a long trip through the various road conditions.
How did the tyres perform they do seem a little narrow though i feel they're adequate for most conditions.
What service intervals are you following did the car require any top-ups you did mention your run in at mahidra dealerships enroute.
I'v been told by the ASS here to get the car for first service at 5000 kms then 10000 and then at an interval of 10000 though the manual shows the first service at 10000kms.
But all in all it does seem that you had a great trip

Good to know a fellow rexton owner.Hope you enjoy your suv.
Service intervals as per the local Ass here is 10,000 kms. No top ups were required during the entire trip. I did get running check up at Chandhigarh and Delh from Mahindra thinking maybe some suspension nut and bolts would have loosened up but was surprised to find everything was ok.
The tyres are adequate but personally i would have preferred little broader ones like fortuner.

[ashroy_6]

enroute kaza









key monastry

[ashroy_6]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXts6...ature=youtu.be

Interesting video when i took a wrong turn near after Tabo, only to find out the road was closed after 6 kms...No sign board warning

[samarth.bhatia]

Brilliant pictures there!

It puts another must-do route in my list.
And the Rexton fits in perfectly with the surroundings.

Is I am to be honest, my TD of the Rexton didn't really bring a smile to my face, but your description & pictures do make a strong case for the vehicle.

Wish you many happy miles!

Cheers & drive safe.
Sam

[Gotham_City]

Originally Posted by ashroy_6

Interesting video when i took a wrong turn near after Tabo, only to find out the road was closed after 6 kms...No sign board warning

Holy cow! How did you take a u-turn on such narrow roads? Did you have to drive in reverse all the way? If I ever make a trip to those terrains, it will be one of the top worries in my list.

Very well written travelogue. Needless to say, have rated it a well deserved 5 Star

[ashroy_6]

Originally Posted by Gotham_City

Holy cow! How did you take a u-turn on such narrow roads? Did you have to drive in reverse all the way? If I ever make a trip to those terrains, it will be one of the top worries in my list.

Very well written travelogue. Needless to say, have rated it a well deserved 5 Star

Hi,
Well luckily where the road was closed the width was just enough for me to take a u turn. Took me about 15 minutes to do that but eventually did it.

Thanks for the appreciation buddy...

[R_R]

Great travelogue!!

I was planning to do a trip to Kaza myself in my Grand Vitara. But I was planning to go on to Manali from Kaza. I am being dissuaded by folks saying that the road to Kaza is very bad and that I shouldn't try it. Obviously, you proved that it wasn't that bad. But what's your impression of the state of the road to Kaza and any news you have of the Kaza-Manali stretch would be very welcome.

Thanks!!

[21Archer84]

Excellent TL man. Kudos to your family for supporting you and joining in the 6000kms long trip. Photos have been breathtaking, most of the pics appear to be wall paintings at the first glance. Wishing you many more happy miles. Rated 5*. Waiting for more.

[ashroy_6]

Originally Posted by R_R

Great travelogue!!

I was planning to do a trip to Kaza myself in my Grand Vitara. But I was planning to go on to Manali from Kaza. I am being dissuaded by folks saying that the road to Kaza is very bad and that I shouldn't try it. Obviously, you proved that it wasn't that bad. But what's your impression of the state of the road to Kaza and any news you have of the Kaza-Manali stretch would be very welcome.

Thanks!!

You can easily do the stretch. But just for information I have been told that Manali to kaza road till losar is basically no road (offroad). But isn't that the fun part? I also wanted to do this stretch but kumzum pass was not cleared at that time. I believe the Manali Kaza stretch will reopen by 15th june so you can plan out after that. Remember to visit komic and kibber once you are there in Kaza. Tabo and Key monastries are also good places to visit there. What i have seen is that many times these roads look dangerous in photos but are not when you actually drive on them. Be prepared and drive carefully...Thats all is required. Most importantly acclimatised yourself to high altitudes by staying in Manali or even better Solang valley for few days.

See the point is once you do this stretch you basically qualify to drive on any roads anywhere in the World no matter how bad they are. That's the icing on the cake.

Originally Posted by 21Archer84

Excellent TL man. Kudos to your family for supporting you and joining in the 6000kms long trip. Photos have been breathtaking, most of the pics appear to be wall paintings at the first glance. Wishing you many more happy miles. Rated 5*. Waiting for more.

Thanks..

[R_R]

Thanks, ashroy_6. That was very useful. I am planning to go only towards the last week of June, so hopefully I can do the Kaza-Manali route too. And if that's not open, just getting to Kaza should be fun!!

Thanks again.

R_R

[ajitsank]

Hello, Could you please give break up of the kilometers traveled in each leg and duration it is taken to cover each leg. Also some insight into the places stayed overnight.

[ashroy_6]

Originally Posted by ajitsank

Hello, Could you please give break up of the kilometers traveled in each leg and duration it is taken to cover each leg. Also some insight into the places stayed overnight.

Hi,

Hyd- Jabalpur--750 km--10 hours
Jabalpur-Agra--600 km--10 hours
Agra- chandhigarh--767 km--10 hours
chandhigarh--shimla-125 km--3 hours (holiday home Shimla---army guest house)
shimal--kalpa--228 km--10 hours
Kalpa--Kaza--220 km--10 hours (kaza--spiti sarai)
kaza--kibber--komic
Kaza--kalpa
Kalpa- Chandhigarh--426 km--14 hours
Chandhigarh--Jaipur--514--10 hours
Jaipur-Indore--653km-11 hours
Indore-Hyderabad--797 km--16 hours.

Plus 300 km misc..
Hope you find the information usefull

[mobix]

Amazing TL and very nice pics. Did you felt any change in handling with luggage on roof?

[ashroy_6]

Originally Posted by mobix

Amazing TL and very nice pics. Did you felt any change in handling with luggage on roof?

Well i was worried initially but Rexton behaved extremely well. I drove at speeds between 100-130 kmph at the highways the maximum being 160kmph at Agra-Delhi expressway. I could have easily gone more but refrained as i had luggage on the roof.

[callmetarantula]

Originally Posted by ashroy_6

Planning:
Originally I had planned for ladakh trip via manali. The dreams were shattered as the Manali-leh route was not open. The trip dates were basically from 2nd may to 20th may 2013. So after much research kaza was finalised.

Beautiful pictures you've put up here. It is a really stunning place.

It reminds me of my trip there in the 1st week of Apr '11. I'd started off from Chandigarh and took Shimla-Rampur-Sangla-Chitkul-Kalpa-Recong Peo-Pooh-Nako-Tabo-Kaza-Kye-Kibber-Dhankar & back route.

I'd gone in a Zen and it was a challenging drive, especially as the roads had just been opened & were being rebuilt. In fact many stretches hardly had any roads at all for kilometres, whereas at places (Nako stretch) had a beautiful road for 80 kms; the likes of which I've rarely seen in India. Kudos ot the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for maintaining the same.

Keep up the travels and the travelogues.